Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that they intend to re-investigate the UVa Medical Center‘s psychiatric ward after reports of two patients shooting up and having sex in a laundry room. CMS just finished their investigation of the psych. ward after the June allegations of sexual assault, and is due to release that report in a week or so. This new investigation is pretty much a worst-case scenario for the UVA hospital. Claudia Pinto reports on this in today’s Progress.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
-
Archive for Sideblog »
I know somebody that works in the psych. ward, and I gather it pretty much sucks right now. There’s been hope that the work environment might improve, but that’s sure not going to happen now. The hospital has really cracked down on the staff (as appears to be necessary), and I imagine that we’ll see a number of people quitting in the near future. This is definitely a troubled division of the UVa hospital right now.
Remember, the psych ward isn’t really for crazy people, just those whose problems aren’t physical. Rehab, depression, etc.
No one said these people weren’t kids, or that they were strangers. The image implied by the news coverage was one of nutcases in straightjackets haveing anonymous sex while nurses wandered aimlessly by.
This seems more Benny & Joon than One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
what are we saying?..that its the fault of the psych unit that visitors are sneaking in drugs for patients..are we to violate their rights and subject them to searches or are we to deny our patients visitors all together…the press has been seeing these issues with a very twisted point of reference..you really should get your facts together…I agree that there are problems on the psych unit…but these problems aren’t just with the staff…these are problems with regulations that are impossible to follow all the time given that we cant predict human behavior before it happens….I think the hospital policy makers and politicians are more to blame that the hands on staff…after all they lay out the rules and regulations…and they are the ones that deflect blame and act in a reactionary way (like axing a 10 innocent people from there jobs) in order to make it look like they are as suprized as everyone else…..